The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is somewhat unique in the world of smartphones. It’s been dubbed the “Playstation phone” and is designed especially with gamers in mind. But even if you’re really into your games, is this the right phone for you?

Gaming: It’s pretty much a given that this phone will have the edge over its competitors in its gaming features. You’ll notice that this is a touchscreen phone that also has a slide out gaming pad. This features two touch pads, the classic Playstation icons (cross, circle, square and triangle) and a D-Pad. No other smartphone currently comes with these controls.

You’ll get five games loaded onto the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, most of the titles you’ll recognize (e.g. Fifa 10). This is pretty good selection out of the box, and newer games are also very affordable. The graphics are not amazing, but they are better than the graphics you’ll find on any other smartphone currently available to buy.

Good Storage Options: Although the 8GB standard memory size for the device isn’t huge, it’s useful to have a memory card slot on the phone, especially if you end up downloading a lot of games.

Battery Life: You’ll get a battery life of 8 hours 25 minutes when talking on the phone, and up to 425 hours on standby, which is pretty good for a smartphone. You should remember, however, that gaming – one of the main purposes of this gadget – will deplete the battery faster.

Camera: The camera on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is pretty standard for a smartphone at 5 megapixels (and a front facing camera for video calls). It has a number of useful extra features, including easy upload to social networking sites, LED flash, geo-tagging and scene mode. The photos generally look very good on this phone.

The major drawback of this camera is the video. Where most rivals can record 720p, this can only manage a 480×800 pixel video resolution.

Music player: This smartphone comes after a long line of Sony Ericsson music phones, so it makes sense that the Xperia Play has a very good music player. It has good features for keeping your collection organized. Even better, the included headphones have controls on the lead, making it extremely easy to use and giving it the edge in this area when compared to other smartphones. The only way it lacks is that it doesn’t come with FM radio – most other smartphones have this.

Screen: The screen comes with a good resolution at 854 x 480 pixels. This means that all images on the display will look bright and sharp (important when you’re playing games!)

Drawbacks Of The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Bulky: Because of the fact that the Sony Ericsson Xperia play has both a touchscreen and a slide out gaming control pad, it is inevitably bulkier than other smartphones currently on the market. This is unavoidable, but if getting the smallest, lightest smartphone available is what’s important to you then you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Gaming: Although the gaming is undoubtedly the selling point of this smartphone, there are a few downsides that we had to mention in this review, too. For one, the games are cheap but they’re more than normal smartphone apps which you’ll use to play games on the likes of the Apple iPhone 4. It may be worth the extra price, however, for the improved controls and better graphics.

Unfortunately, the app that comes preloaded onto the device doesn’t make it that easy to download games. Most users will be able to work around this, however.

Cost: This isn’t a cheap smartphone, thanks to its many featured and integrated gaming controls. Because other smartphones don’t offer these features, it’s easy for Sony to rack up the price. Compare the cost of the console to other games consoles, or even portable devices such as the Nintendo DS, and you may question whether it’s worth buying this phone solely for the gaming. It’s only worth it if you truly want the smartphone features to match.

The good news is that it’s still cheaper than some of the top phones on the market, and the price may well be worth it for gamers.

Should You Buy The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play?

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is a unique smartphone. No other top device has focused so strongly on gaming. This is its biggest strength, but could also be its biggest weakness. The gaming features certainly aren’t perfect, but as long as there are enough titles available for you, then you’ll probably still have fun playing games on this device. And, as far as smartphones go, it really isn’t more expensive than most other bestsellers on the market today. You can find more about it here.

When it comes to the bestselling smartphone accessories, would you believe that smartphone gloves are some of the most popular? The truth is that these gloves are a lot more useful than you may have expected, if you live in a place that gets cold in the winter.

Why Can’t You Use Normal Gloves With Your Smartphone?

The type of touchscreen featured on most of the top smartphones on the market today doesn’t recognize pressure. Instead, these screens respond to the charge that comes from your fingers. When you’re wearing normal gloves, the touchscreen can’t receive that charge and just won’t respond to any touches.

This meant that you’d usually have to remove your gloves to use your smartphone. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s annoying when you get a call out of the blue – not to mention the fact that it’ll leave your hands freezing cold!

Three Solutions To The Smartphone/ Gloves Problem

There are three ways to get around the traditional problem with gloves…

1) Fingerless Gloves: These are very easy to get hold of and don’t cost much. But they don’t really solve the problem of keeping your hands warm, as your fingers will constantly be exposed! Alternatively, you could alter your own gloves and cut smaller holes in the fingertips. This will keep your hands warmer, but not completely toasty (and it could look a little strange, too).

2) Gloves With Removable Tips: Some gloves exist that allow you to pull back the finger tips when you need to. These aren’t necessarily designed for smartphones, they’re designed to make a whole range of tasks easier to perform without having to take your gloves off completely.

3) Buy Specialist Smartphone Gloves: The last option is to buy gloves specifically made for smartphones. They work by including a conductor on the fingertips that’ll let the charge through from the fingers to the screen. This does mean that they look a little different to standard gloves, but the extra element is barely noticeable. They work extremely well and are the easiest option, but they do cost a little more to buy.

Whether you’re hoping to use your smartphone during the cold weather, or are looking for a good stocking filler for a friend who you know uses a smartphone, smartphone gloves have really gone up in popularity lately. They’re simple but they fulfill a need that a huge amount of people have!

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